Premier League: Forest’s four-point deduction upheld by independent Appeal Board

Forest, currently 17th with 29 points, lodged the appeal after the deduction in March left it vulnerable to a relegation threat.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: Nottingham Forest was unsuccessful in its appeal to overturn a four-point deduction. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Nottingham Forest was unsuccessful in its appeal to overturn a four-point deduction in relation to its breach of the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) in the 2022-23 season, the league said on Tuesday.

Forest lodged the appeal after the deduction in March left it vulnerable to a relegation threat. It is currently 17th with 29 points, three points above the bottom three with two matches to go.

“An independent Appeal Board has upheld the decision of a Commission to deduct four points from Nottingham Forest following an admitted breach of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules,” the league said in a statement.

Forest had admitted to breaching its maximum loss threshold of 61 million pounds ($76.51 million) by 34.5 million, according to the Premier League. 

England’s top-flight clubs are allowed to lose 105 million pounds over three seasons. However, two years of Forest’s assessment period were spent in the second-tier Championship, meaning it could lose only a maximum of 61 million pounds.

Forest argued that the commission should have seen the sale of attacker Brennan Johnson after the assessment period as a “mitigating factor” and suspended some or all of the points deducted.

“Each of these grounds was rejected by the Appeal Board, which found the Independent Commission was entitled to immediately impose the sanction it did. The four-point deduction will therefore remain in place,” the Premier League said.

Forest hosts Chelsea on Saturday and finishes its season at Burnley on May 19.